t to the autumnal equinox, when all the harvest has been
gathered from the fields. Its advocates declare this to be the
beginning of the year, because Moses calls that month in which such
new moon occurs, the end of the year. They call this autumnal equinox
the beginning of the civil year, and the vernal equinox the beginning
of the holy year. The Mosaic ceremonies and festivals extend from the
latter season up to the autumnal equinox.

42. If Moses in this passage is speaking of the civil year, then the
flood occurred in September or October, an opinion I find Lyra held.
It is true that fall and winter are more liable to rains, the signs of
the zodiac pointing to humidity. Again, as Moses writes further on, a
dove was sent forth in the tenth month and brought back a green olive
branch. This fact seems to harmonize with the view that the deluge
began in October.

43. But I cannot endorse this argument of the Jews, assuming two
beginnings of the year. Why not make four beginnings, since there are
four distinct seasons according to the equinoxes and solstices? It is
safer to follow the divine order, making April the first month,
starting with the new moon which is nearest to vernal equinox. The
Jews betray their ignorance in speaking of an autumnal beginning of
the year: the autumnal equinox is necessarily the end of the year.
Moses so calls it for the reason that all field labors had then ceased
and all products had been gathered and brought home.

44. Hence, it is my belief that the flood began in the spring, when
all minds were filled with hope of the new year. Such is the death of
the wicked that when they shall say, "Peace and safety," they perish.
1 Thes 5, 3. Nor is any inconsistence shown in the fact that the green
olive branch is afterward mentioned, for certain trees are evergreen,
as the boxwood, fir, pine, cedar, laurel, olive, palm and others.

45. But what does Moses mean by saying that the fountains of the great
deep burst, and that the windows of heaven were opened? No such record
is found in all pagan literature, although the heathen searched with
zeal the mysteries of nature. One discrimination should be made as
regards the abysses of the earth, the floodgates or windows of heaven,
and the rain. Rain, as we know it, is a common phenomenon, while that
of bursting floodgates and abysses is both unfamiliar and amazing.

46. Almost all interpreters are silent on this point. We know from
Holy Writ that G